The Process of Redemption - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

shalom everybody can you hear me okay great uh it's good to see you again jeremy i mean i've seen you since you've been better but every day seems like you're getting better and better and it's true you really were humbled i mean you're always a humble guy it's true but you you were even more humbled like when you got out of the sickness you were just meek and wanting to be sweet and be good it was really fun to see um and yeah so it's good to see you again and it's good to see i love it when jeremy's leading because then i could really just go through and really look at every single face and uh and just love on you guys it really makes me so happy to see you and jeremy and your prayer there i've never heard that before we learn your ways to live and we live to learn your ways i did you make that just came to me today did it really i promise it's really beautiful i was like wow that really does that is true in in both the the statement and its inverse of all guys yeah that's true it's true my voice isn't fully back yet but it's funny right after the last fellowship when i was praying i would have a voice i was given a voice i was like wow i'm in the clear and then literally like 20 minutes later i was whispering to shayna again i said hashem just gave me the voice when i needed to have it and that's really all that mattered to me but but anyways yeah i do want to talk about this week's torah portion truma which is a little bit of a difficult word to translate you know some translate it as a portion like truma as a portion others a voluntary offering um it's difficult to translate but from the context you can understand that it's a type of offering and also truma comes from ram like uh ram to raise up because it raises us up when we give an offering to hashem and it was ultimately it was a divine directive uh given to moshe to open the doors to the nation of israel to just offer the various precious goods and treasures and materials to the construction of the mishkan of the tabernacle which was essentially what was the tabernacle it was the mobile baitamikdash it was the mobile temple in the desert as a matter of fact the contributions were so overwhelming that we see in the upcoming torah portions that moshe had to decree that the doors would be closed that no further donations could be given that they had everything they needed imagine you were someone that so badly wanted to give and you didn't give fast enough and maybe you deliberated should i shouldn't i and then you missed the opportunity and the people were just so eager and willing to give with such purity of heart as a matter of fact the pasuk says hashem says you shall take for me not for your honor or for your reputation or the reasons that people give nowadays they weren't plaques that said donated by people were running to moshe with the eagerness to donate whatever they could for hashem's name alone and why what is it about the mishkan that was so special that brought forth such an eager selflessness on behalf of the nation so i met this rabbi with shabbat and modine and he was sharing about the book of shemot that according to the ramban it's it's it's called the sephir geulah the book of redemption and the ramban not nakamoto's he named it that in his introduction to his commentary on the torah and he gave different titles to different books bray sheets he called sefer yet syrah the book of creation and exodus the one we find ourselves to know he called the book of redemption which you hear and it's like okay that makes sense the book of redemption the redemption happened there but there is a question how could you call the entire book of exodus the book of redemption right that's a good question because uh you know it was really only the first 12 chapters that dealt with the actual redemption from egypt but what about the lion's share of the rest of the book what about the last 28 chapters of the book right what about the rest of the book why is it called the book of redemption so in classic rabbinical style the humanities asks himself that question and answers it for himself and here's his answer tabitha if you could put the slide up he says the exile is not complete right it's not ended until they return to their land and to the spiritual levels of their forefathers now when they left egypt even though they had left the house of slavery they were still considered to be in a state of exile for they were in a foreign land wandering in the wilderness however when they reached mount sinai and set up the mishkan and god returned to them establishing his amongst them then they returned to the spiritual level of their forefathers the presence of god upon their tents and then they were considered redeemed right that's interesting meaning the modern day understanding of redemption isn't necessarily accurate or or it's not really complete right redemption is not just being freed from slavery or persecution that may provide freedom from external oppression but if we see particularly in today's world particularly in the west freedom from one oppressor unless it's guided by a greater mission often leads simply to subjugation under a different oppressor right or even just nostalgia for the oppression itself as we saw from the murmuring of those who were in the desert that just yearn for various elements of uh of egypt and their lives there and their slave masters they yearned for that they were nostalgic for it it's difficult to understand unless you really get into the human psyche and that's why the entire book of exodus particularly particularly including these chapters of the construction of the tabernacle is called the book of redemption because without the construction of the tabernacle the redemption was just grossly and terribly incomplete it wasn't even redemption at all for what is true redemption true redemption is when we are able to accomplish our true mission right our greatest purpose the deepest reason for which we were created and for the nation of israel and really all of mankind that deep purpose and great mission laid within the tabernacle that they were instructed to build in this week's torah portion and what is that purpose i was like should i even go into what is the meaning of life in my ten minute piece but i just have to right because what's it's a million dollar question and we could spend the entire fellowship just talking about this but to summarize it compactly our mission is to make a home for god in the material world right in the lowest dimension of creation in physicality to make a dwelling place for hashem in the finite realm and in this week's torah portion when we were not wandering as nomads through the desert that dwelling is focused on the tabernacle on the michigan and later in the haftarah right in the book of the prophets that's in the book of kings which takes place when we're situated with the land and that dwelling is focused on the beitami dash on the holy temple now both of these buildings facilitate the deepest dwelling of god's presence in the physical world and that and that really is the dwelling within our hearts the mishkan and the in the beta mikdash the tabernacle of the temple facilitate hashem dwelling in our hearts which we see in one of the most powerful verses of the whole torah which is right here in our torah portion right at the beginning is describing the various material and precious stones that go into the destruction of the tabernacle he says vasuli mikdash vishakhanti betoham and they shall make a sanctuary for me so that i may dwell within them that's right you would think it would say and then they shall make for me a sanctuary and it will dwell within it meaning that hashem will dwell within the sanctuary but no hashem says i will dwell within them when we build the sanctuary if we are true to it then hashem will make his home within us and within our hearts and what do i mean by if we are true to it well to understand what i mean let's look at the half torah of this week's portion right to chapter five of the book of kings which details the great lengths that king solomon went to in the construction of the better mikdash and the construction of the of the holy temple now the temple was the structure for which the tabernacle from this week's torah portion was modeled it was like a prelude for the temple what happened with the temple 30 000 workers were called upon 10 000 person shifts and everything about the project was majestic i'm going over time i don't want to go into all the details it was larger than life from the cedars of lebanon to the unimaginably gargantuan huge stones hewn from the bedrock of the earth that still it still baffles modern scientists and archaeologists as to how they were able to even move them from one place to another modern technology wouldn't be able to accomplish that and they were able to do that then but after the description of these great wonders it comes to this culmination this is the book of kings chapter 6 verse 11. the words of hashem came to solomon saying this temple that you built if you follow my decrees perform my statutes and observe all my commandments to follow them then i shall uphold my word with you that i spoke to david your father i shall dwell among the children of israel and i shall not forsake my people israel that's right think about if we follow in hashem's ways if we fear him and love him and we express that love to him in how we love each other and treat each other particularly amongst those who are weakest and most disadvantaged then the tabernacle will be blessed and the temple will be blessed and hashem will dwell within us and that's why everybody ran and flooded the construction project with everything that was needed and more because when we are confronted with the opportunity to really accomplish our deepest mission the purpose first we're created well there's no greater joy and no greater fulfillment and that's why jeremy and i both tell each other we say to each other a lot when we go through rough things out here they're coming out to these mountains and establishing this farm and settling the judean frontier despite the great cost involved and i'm not just talking about monetary costs at all which was everything we had i'm talking really of first and foremost about emotional and psychological costs it's been really difficult it's taken a toll on both of us but nonetheless we would both attest that this has been our greatest joy and greatest privilege and we just ran to the opportunity we just wanted to do it because like the jews who were liberated from slavery brought into the desert they had not yet been redeemed their redemption really began when they were able to fulfill the mission for which they were created to provide a dwelling place for hashem in the world and even as i'm speaking to you today from the very mountains from which king david composed the psalms we have still not yet been fully redeemed we have been saved from the death camps of auschwitz and we've emerged victorious and miraculous battles and uh the exiles are being gathered and the hebrew language is being revived but that does not mean that we've been redeemed right we will only be redeemed when the mission of our farm is completed when the mission of israel is completed when we have succeeded in restoring judea to being a global destination for spirituality and godliness will only be fully redeemed when the temple will be rebuilt we will only be fully redeemed when our hearts of stone are replaced with hearts of flesh will only be fully redeemed when the nations declare from zion the torah will come forth and the word of god from jerusalem will only be completely redeemed when knowledge of god floods the earth as water covers the sea only when those things happen that is full redemption but to me this fellowship right what we're doing right here right now in and of itself is proof that the redemption has already begun right that it's it's underway this fellowship is one of the great answers not only to the why of this farm but the why to my life and i'm sure jeremy would say as well it's a big answer to the why of his life and his mission as well and so like the jews in the desert we are here and we're eager to give what we have to a dwelling place for god in the world and like those who are flooding the gates with contributions for the tabernacle all of you all of you just by being with us being a part of this fellowship and supporting us as you have every step of the way you are all a part of it may we merit my friends to see the presence of god fill the courtyards of the temple and the streets of jerusalem and most importantly our hearts may we merit not only to see the redemption with our eyes but to be a part of it with our neshama with our very souls shalom my friends as the masks are coming off and much of the world is turning not only against israel but yes against the jewish people if you feel different if your love for israel is growing deeper and stronger if you're thirsting to cleave to the nation of israel and to the god of israel if you're thirsting to learn authentic torah from jews in judea then the land of israel fellowship is for you hundreds of individuals and families from around the world come together on zoom every week in what can only be described as a fellowship of love friendship of learning and praying and belonging a fellowship really unlike any other it's more than just a movement it's a family to learn more about the land of israel fellowship click on www.theland backslash fellowship or send an email to fellowship at the land of israel.com love and blessings from judea you